Migrating from an SAPscript to an SAP Smart Form

Migrating from an SAPscript to an SAP Smart Form

I am working on the form development for an invoice list. The SAPscript form for this is SD_INVOICE_LIST. However, our customer wanted to develop the requirement in Smart Forms. There is no standard Smart Form available for invoice and hence the option is to migrate the SAPscript to Smart Form.

However, migrating the SAPscript to Smart Form (I think we need to change the driver program by copying it to a custom driver program) will require more time when compared to developing the same in SAPscript.

How advantageous is developing this in Smart Forms when compared to SAPscripts? Is it possible that this development can be migrated to Smart Forms?

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I often get questions like these -- whether to use an SAPscript template or to build a Smart Form which requires more effort due to no provided template. All things being equal, I generally discourage creating new forms with SAPscript, for multiple reasons.

For instance, the SAPscript tool is relatively unforgiving (i.e., no 'undo' capability, awkward table handling, client-dependent, etc.) and ongoing maintenance is much tougher as a result. Thus, in my experience, even if the initial maintenance investment in a Smart Form is higher, it often will be cheaper in the long run. And sometimes you can leverage an existing Smart Forms template, which is not an exact fit, but gets you 20 to 30% of what you need. Depending on your precise form requirements, this sometimes can be easier than migrating an SAPscript form and dealing with all the associated clean-up.

In your case, I would probably "bite the bullet" and build the Smart Form. I would take a close look at print program RLB_INVOICE and the invoice Smart Form template, as well as print program RVADIL01 and SAPscript form SD_INVOICE_LIST, to see which is a better starting point in light of your requirements. Obviously, every situation is different, but when it comes down to it, wouldn't you rather build something that is easier to support?

This was first published in May 2010

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